All Opinion/columnist articles – Page 27
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CommentRedesigning hospital environments can help tackle infection
Controlling healthcare acquired infection requires intelligent hospital design and practices, write Nigel Klein and Vanya Gant.
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CommentSally Gainsbury: just how much will public health have?
So local authorities, it appears, won’t be getting much of a public health fund after all.
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Comment'Don't rush through regulation at the expense of innovation'
The PIP breast implant scandal has raised difficult questions for trusts and clinicians about the faith they place in the reliability of medical devices they use.
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CommentCommissioning by any other name: will 'clinical' become 'world class'?
Linear progress, zig-zagging or going round in circles? Calum Paton asks whether the Health Bill’s ideal of clinical commissioning can really deliver an improved era of healthcare after the years of false starts and rebadging.
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CommentThe rise of the patient leader
Patient leaders have a valuable role to play in tackling the problems facing health and social care at a national and local level, but we need to improve the development of and access to learning opportunities in order to grow this pool of talent properly, says David Gilbert.
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Comment'Can Public Health England improve the way we respond to pandemics?'
The Department of Health’s intention for Public Health England to strengthen the national response to public health crises alongside local bodies may not work in practice unless experiences of previous pandemics are learned from, write Drs Jacky Chambers and Andrew Rouse.
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CommentIndependent assessment could reduce long-term sickness absence
Creating an independent assessment service to advise on employee absence is our chance to create a fair system, say Carol Black and David Frost.
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Comment'Local healthcare cannot be delivered by giant commissioning bodies'
The key to healthcare delivery models lies within natural communities – not in bloated commissioning organisations, says Charles Alessi.
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CommentA perfect opportunity to reform the education and training system
Last week’s publication of the further policy statement on the future NHS education and training system provides a great opportunity for providers to ensure they have the workforce they need to deliver the world class health services the public wants, says Martin Barkley.
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Comment'Start planning the execution, instead of dreaming about the ambition'
In 2012, the Year of the Dragon, will commissioning plans be all smoke and no fire? Paul Zollinger-Read says it is vital that they aren’t.
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CommentJeremy Taylor: the Future Forum's work is about changing culture
It’s not about the money; it’s not about the technology; it’s not about the data. It’s about the culture. That could be a summary of the NHS Future Forum’s work on information last autumn, writes information worksteam co-chair Jeremy Taylor.
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Comment'Deal with productivity variation, or risk the long term future of the NHS'
Only by swiftly adressing the issue of clinical practice variation and developing better evidence based practice can we stop the quality of NHS care eroding, writes Professor Alan Maynard.
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Comment'Patients and organisations still need an information revolution'
Reorganisations might be familiar at Richmond House, but revolutions are rarer. With the information strategy officially paused, has the promised NHS spring turned to winter, asks Asthma UK chief executive Neil Churchill.
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Comment'Make change a mantra, and lead the patient centered revolution'
Traditional financial incentives have led to behaviours that serve the interests of organisations, not those of patients. It’s time to lead a revolution for change, and make healthcare a patient centered
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CommentA day in the life: at the Mid Staffs inquiry
A patient experience seminar organised by Mid Staffs inquiry chair Robert Francis QC brought home how far the NHS needs to improve engagement with patients in order to deliver quality care. Penny Henrion tells HSJ about her day at the Mid Staffs inquiry.
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Comment'It's time to remove the barriers to telehealth'
The results of the latest and biggest telehealth trial suggest that it should undoubtedly now be taken seriously in today’s medicine. Yet there is real resistance to it in the system, and the barriers need to be removed to ensure telehealth success, say Matthew Rutter and Joe Stringer.
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CommentCan the NHS Pay Review Body still be regarded as independent?
A “perfect storm” of issues surrounding staff terms and conditions could see all sides vying to influence the NHS Pay Review Body in the next 12 months. In such troubled times, can it realistically hope to retain its independence, asks Mike Jackson.
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CommentSally Gainsbury: economic peace and goodwill, or Armageddon?
Perhaps it is just seasonal religiosity, but it is starting to look as though 2012 will see some significant battles between the NHS’s competing spiritual forces.
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Comment'Delivering better community services requires equal relationships'
Delivering public services through equal and reciprocal relationships between providers and the communities they serve should be at the heart of commissioning community services, and achieving integrated care, says Victor Adebowale.
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Comment'There are real rewards to be reaped from recognising staff'
I recently attended Nottingham University Hospitals Trust’s annual staff awards ceremony, a few days after some of my colleagues were present at November’s HSJ Awards.